


Love Bug

by torikasa



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Biting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 04:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6738769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torikasa/pseuds/torikasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mao is sick, so now it's Ritsu's turn to "take care" of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Bug

Normally, Sunday mornings are days where Ritsu can sleep in all day and not have to worry about anyone bothering him. All normality is broken, however, when he gets an unexpected call from Natchan.

Now, all things considered, he really likes Natchan. However, he would never pick up the phone for anyone as it is exhausting to answer the phone and make light conversation. He could use that precious time to sleep in instead.

So, instead, he just listens to his cellphone incessantly ring and closes his eyes after the seventh and final _ring_. The voice mail message resounds, and then he starts hearing Natchan’s voice.

Natchan is usually really relaxed and carefree in his speaking, but he notices the slight falter in Natchan’s voice and the occasional hitches as the blonde is speaking. _“Ritsu-chan_ ,” the voice mail begins. It’s an unusually worried Ritsu-chan, and that, surprisingly, makes him perk his head up a little bit. _“It’s a tragedy! A disaster! I’m at Mao-chan’s house right now”_ —Ritsu’s eyes widen as he finds himself fully attentive now—“ _and he has caught a fever! The poor baby! I’m sure he called you first_ ”—Ritsu makes a begrudging noise as if to say _‘Well, no, in fact, he didn’t’_ but continues to listen nonetheless—“ _so I wanted to ask why you haven’t come over yet and checked on your poor, poor friend?”_

There is a slight pause, some shuffling noises, some coughs that Ritsu knows is from Maa-kun, and then Natchan’s voice comes back in, suddenly more bemused-sounding: _“I have a modeling gig later on today, so I need someone else to take care of him. If you’re busy… sleeping… haha, well, you probably are and that’s why you’re not here right now. That’s okay, sweetie. I can just ask Mika-chan or Makoto-chan and—“_

With an aggravated huff, Ritsu slams his hand on the phone, ending the voice mail message abruptly, and jumps out of his bed with enough fervor that exceeds all his previous energy from the last seventeen years of his existence combined. He thinks to himself that he should have enough energy saved up from sleeping so much all his life, but even when he attempts to hurry and get dressed as fast as he can, he still finds himself slightly sluggish and tired and he curses at himself for being like this. He shuffles into some clothes that he snatches up from the floor and sluggishly runs out of the door, completely ignoring the annoying bug’s questioning looks—and then, without even looking both ways, crosses the street, dragging his feet while doing so.

It really is nice that Maa-kun’s house is just across the street, or Ritsu wouldn’t have even bothered. But considering it’s Maa-kun, maybe he would’ve pushed himself just a little bit harder and go the extra mile—literally—for him.

Well, that’s just a maybe, anyway. Fortunately, that’s not the case, and Ritsu finds himself looking straight at the glass door. He rings the doorbell, his foot finding itself tapping against the pavement impatiently, and then the door opens and he finds himself staring at two differently colored eyes. Who in the world…

“Oh, ya must be Isa-chan’s friend! He’s really burnin’ up in there. Coughin’ up a storm and stuff. Ya better not get too close or—“

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t even know who you are,” Ritsu says nonchalantly, waving him away like a pesky bug. He finds himself walking a little too fast than usual, but then is stopped completely in his tracks when he finds two blondes lounging around Maa-kun’s bed. Said redhead is staring up at him with a stern look as he usually does lately. Even though his face is already all flushed, Ritsu notices that Maa-kun’s face becomes almost as red as his hair as his childhood friend continues to glare daggers into his chest.

Ritsu feels his heart ache, hurt by the way Maa-kun is looking at him, all disappointed and angry. That’s not like his old Maa-kun, who was shy and a crybaby… _This_ Maa-kun is…

“Ritsu, don’t be”—cough—“so rude to him. His name”—cough—“is Mika. He’s in our class! Pay more”—cough, cough—“attention!”

Ritsu looks at the other two blondes (Natchan and that glasses guy from Trickstar), and then looks at the weird-looking kid who talks funny (who is telling him that it’s alright and that it’s “nice to meetchya”), and then he looks at Maa-kun and sighs.

“Sorry,” he grumbles to no one in particular, softly pushing his way past everyone else to lay in bed next to Maa-kun. Immediately, Maa-kun is flustered, and Ritsu finds himself smiling triumphantly.

“Ritsu, I’m sick.”

Ritsu yawns. “So?”

“You’re gonna get sick.”

“That just means I get to sleep more and miss school… with a reason.”

Maa-kun sighs defeatedly, and he can hear Natchan cooing in the background. The glasses guy from Trickstar looks uncomfortable, and the weird-looking kid who talks funny is whispering something to Natchan while looking at him and Maa-kun incredulously.

“I can take care of Maa-kun myself. You guys can go,” Ritsu grumbles softly, nudging closer to his childhood friend. Maa-kun, again, sighs and stares expectantly at the other guests, who all look at each other with wondering looks.

“It would be better if all of us were here to look after Isara-kun,” the glasses guy from Trickstar says, taking a seat near the edge of Maa-kun’s bed. Almost as if with protective instinct, Ritsu nudges closer and closer to his longtime friend.

“Hey, Makoto-chan, Mika-chan… I think we should go.” Natchan is grabs both of the other boys by the arm and starts to drag them off. There are complaints from the glasses guy from Trickstar, saying something about how “Isara-kun is in really bad shape right now,” but the weird-looking kid who talks funny keeps looking back at him and Maa-kun with a grin and a thumbs up.

What’s that even supposed to mean…

Finally, the trio leaves, indicated by the soft slam of the door, and Mao continues to cough incessantly, careful to cough on the other side of the bed and avoid coughing on him.

“Maa-kun,” he starts sullenly, cuddling up closer to his friend. “Why didn’t you call me first? Why didn’t you… call me at all, actually?”

“I thought you were asleep, Ritsu. And besides, I… can take care of myself.”

“But you called Natchan.” Ritsu is whining now, softly shaking the redhead. “I’m hurt. Really.”

“Narukami came over to ask to borrow my textbook,” Maa-kun explains, still coughing. “Then he called Makoto and Mika over and, well… I guess he called you? Anyway, I can take care of myself, Ritsu. You can go back to sleep.”

“I’ll just sleep here then…”

“ _At your own house_.”

Ritsu huffs and snuggles Maa-kun tighter, much to the redhead’s chagrin. “I can take care of you, Maa-kun,” he insists.

“Well, you’re not doing a really good job. At all,” Maa-kun grumbles.

With a sly smirk, Ritsu crawls up on top of Maa-kun. “That’s because I have to punish you first, Maa-kun~” He grabs the weakened Maa-kun’s arms and raises them up above the redhead’s head, eliciting a squeak from the boy beneath him.

“Ritsu, this isn’t funny,” Maa-kun says, his face completely red. “You’re seriously going to get sick, and then I’ll have to work even harder to take care of you.”

“Aw, Maa-kun, always thinking about others. Be selfish for once,” Ritsu says, craning his neck downwards, pressing his teeth against his best friend’s neck. Maa-kun groans softly, frustrated, as he tries to push Ritsu off of him but to no avail. Ritsu thinks Maa-kun isn’t trying hard enough, or maybe he himself is just stronger.

He bites the other boy and Maa-kun instinctively yelps out. Afterward, he immediately starts glaring daggers at his friend. “Are you done yet?”

“The old Maa-kun would turn pale and start crying…”

“What, are you a sadist? Do you want me to cry for you?”

Ritsu doesn’t answer as he sinks his teeth into the soft, reddened flesh of Maa-kun’s neck again. In turn, Maa-kun starts to struggle out of Ritsu’s grasp, coughing all the while and telling Ritsu that he is for sure getting sick.

Ritsu doesn’t care, though. He doesn’t care about much. But he really cares about Maa-kun, probably more than himself, and always wants to see every single different side to Maa-kun. He especially wants to see the old side of Maa-kun, who would cry and cling to him. Now that Maa-kun is more mature, Ritsu feels lonelier than ever…

“I hope I get sick, Maa-kun. Then we can hang out like we used to and lay in bed all day.”

“You’re so weird, Ritsu,” Maa-kun says, sighing, as he stops struggling and just lets Ritsu do as he pleases. He always lets him do as he wants.

“You spoil me too much, Maa-kun~”

“Just don’t make any marks. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea,” Maa-kun grumbles.

“Hm, in that case, I’ll make sure to leave some extra marks. Make sure people understand that you’re mine and mine alone. Kiss kiss~”

And with that, Ritsu starts gnawing on the nape of Maa-kun’s neck, carefully biting as to not hurt his friend too much but enough to leave his marks on the poor worrywart. Maa-kun winces at just the gentlest bites.

“I swear, Ritsu, if anyone in our class asks and you tell them it’s all your fault…”

“I’ll make sure I’ll tell them it’s all my fault.” Then, a beat. “You never call me Ritchan anymore. Maa-kun… That means I have to punish you even more.”

Maa-kun rolls his eyes, frowning. “What else could you possibly do now?”

Ritsu’s eyes flash. “Maa-kun…”

Maa-kun’s eyes widen, his mouth hanging agape. “Oh no… You _better_ not, Ritsu.”

“I’m gonna do it,” Ritsu says, grinning evilly, tightening his hold on Maa-kun’s arms. “I’m gonna do it, and you can’t stop me.”

“Be reasonable, Ritsu,” Maa-kun pleads, now struggling again.

“Hmm, did you say something?”

“…Ritchan, please…”

Ritsu’s eyes flash again. “Hmm, that’s more like it. Well, you’ve earned a reward now, Maa-kun~ Tickle tickle~”

Ritsu keeps one hand locked around Maa-kun’s skinny wrists as the other hand tickles one of Maa-kun’s sides. The redhead erupts in a mixture of coughing and laughter, drops of tears rolling down the sides of his flushed cheeks. He starts yelling out an amalgam of “mercy!” and “stop it!” and “please, Ritchan!” in-between his bout of laughter and his coughing fit.

After a while, Ritsu gives in and stops tickling his friend, allowing Maa-kun to catch his breath.

“Did you like your reward, Maa-kun?”

“That was more like another punishment…” the redhead says begrudgingly.

Ritsu giggles softly, nuzzling his head against Maa-kun’s heavily-heaving chest. “You know you love me.”

Ritsu can feel Maa-kun sigh heavily. “I guess.”

“Didn't you once promise me you would love me forever?”

At that, Maa-kun blushes a shell pink. He always blushes a lot around Ritsu, and he hopes that's true for only him.

“That was a long time ago…”

“But your feelings haven't changed, no?”

“Well, no…”

“Good. Mine haven't either. I love you, Maa-kun~” Ritsu says softly, gently, pushing himself so he is able to peck Maa-kun’s cheek.

Maa-kun, immediately flustered, weakly pushes Ritsu away. “We’re not children anymore, dummy.”

“Yeah we are.” Ritsu grins before brushing his lips against Maa-kun’s. Maa-kun makes a noise of surprise, mumbling a shrilly “Ritchan,” which only makes Ritsu feel more adventurous and start licking the redhead’s parted lips.

“R-Ritchan! Honestly!” Maa-kun yells out after the deed has been done. He brushes the lingering saliva off his lips with the back of his hand and pushes Ritsu with surprising strength to the other side of the bed. “Learn to control yourself!”

“It's hard when I’m around you, Maa-kun…” Ritsu looks straight into Maa-kun’s deep emerald eyes. The redhead only looks away. “I love you so much, Maa-kun.”

“If you really love me, you would go back to your house so I can rest. Or even better yet, though I know you won’t do it, you would take care of me.”

“...I am though. I’ll even make you soup. Chicken noodle soup to make you feel all better.”

Maa-kun cringes. “Your soup looks too scary to eat.”

“But it tastes good, yes?” Ritsu giggles to himself. “Just like Maa-kun’s scrumptious lips~”

All Maa-kun does is sigh. “Whatever. Come tomorrow, you'll be sick and miss even more of school. What a hassle.”

“Maa-kun, let's sleep together tomorrow then. We can share a bowl of my soup… And we can snuggle all day like during our sleepovers back then.”

Maa-kun coughs. “Alright. Just promise me one thing. Promise me you actually rest so you can get better soon.”

“That's what I'm good at,” Ritsu says a little too proudly.

Maa-kun smiles weakly, his eyelids blinking rapidly, before yawning and coughing simultaneously. Ritsu pats him on the shoulder softly.

“You should sleep now. I will too. And we can sleep tomorrow too. Sleep…”

“Sure. Have a good sleep, Ritchan.”

“You too, Maa-kun~”

Maa-kun closes his green eyes and snoozes immediately. Ritsu waits before he knows Maa-kun is completely asleep before placing a sweet kiss on Maa-kun’s parted lips. Then, he falls asleep himself, snuggling up to his best friend as close as possible.

 

* * *

 

Come next day, excitement bubbles up in Ritsu, making him a lot more energetic than he usually is. Today, he will be sleeping in with Maa-kun all day! But when he gets out of bed and surveys himself, he realizes one crucial factor that changes everything: he _wasn’t_ sick.

(He curses at his strong immune system out loud.)

Suddenly, he hears a couple knocks against the frame of his door. He drags his feet to the front of the house and opens the door begrudgingly, being met with a now healthy and shining Maa-kun, who is smiling at him with a toothy, annoying grin.

“Looks like I’m all better now. Somehow, all that rest yesterday did the trick. Or maybe your kisses yesterday helped me get better…? Oh, what’s this?” Maa-kun peers at him with a smirk. “Looks like you’re not sick either, _Ritchan_.”

“Ugh, Maa-kun…”

“Well, it’s time to go to school. You did do the homework assigned to us last Friday, right? I’ll let you copy off of mine just this one time since you were _so_ nice to me yesterday.”

“Don’t tease me,” Ritsu says, unamused. Yet, he can’t help but smile when he notices all the marks on Maa-kun’s neck: marks that signal to everyone that Maa-kun is his and his alone.

“What are you smiling about?” Maa-kun asks suspiciously before covering his neck, embarrassed. “Oh, whatever. This is all your fault. Just keep quiet about it and there won’t be any problems.”

“And what if I don’t keep quiet?” Ritsu asks in a mocking tone, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

Maa-kun sighs heavily. “I’ll buy you a new eye mask after club activities if you keep quiet.”

Ritsu’s eyes brighten up. “Deal. You know me so well, Maa-kun…”

“Of course. We’ve been friends ever since you told me you would kill me for bothering your sleep.”

“Oh, you know that was just a joke,” Ritsu says, rolling his eyes. Maa-kun starts to laugh—a gentle, mellow laugh that makes Ritsu’s stomach tingle. He thinks Maa-kun is really like sunshine, and even though it’s annoying to look at sometimes, he really needs it.

Maa-kun starts talking about something as they walk (well, in Ritsu’s case, drag his feet) to school, but Ritsu is only half listening. He thinks it would have been nice if they were both sick today so they could spend some more quality time together. With Trickstar and Knights in the way, as well as their respective clubs and Mao being in the student council, it’s been really difficult to see his childhood friend lately. They hang out every once in a blue moon nowadays, and it really makes Ritsu feel sad. Yesterday, he wanted to savor every moment with him, even if all they do is sleep together.

When they finally get to school and enter the classroom, it’s Natchan who notices something odd about Maa-kun first and points it out with a girlish squeal.

“My, my, what were you to hardworking boys up to yesterday?” the blonde questions with a small smirk, pointing at Maa-kun’s neck. This has caught everyone’s attention, and now the weird-looking kid who talks funny is pointing and giggling too (as well as winking at Ritsu and giving him a thumbs up, which Ritsu still doesn’t understand the meaning of…). Even Corgi and Fukkun have caught interest and are now shooting Maa-kun and him questioning looks.

Maa-kun is flushing red and avoiding all eye contact, covering his neck and telling everyone that they were bug bites. Ritsu, on the other hand, tries to restrain himself from telling everyone that they really might have been bug bites, but that the certain bug is actually him and he caused all this. It’s really hard to keep quiet, though, when Maa-kun is completely flustered and unable to speak. It makes Ritsu want to tease him more.

But alas, the commotion slowly dies down as the teacher comes in and starts the lesson. Ritsu lays his head down on the desk in an attempt to sleep, but with Maa-kun sitting right in front of him, he feels less tempted to sleep and more tempted to continue to tease his childhood friend.

He starts scribbling on a scrap piece of paper, doodling some but mostly writing in his sloppy but somehow neat handwriting: _I’m sick_. There is a little drawing of himself on the corner in bed with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth.

He throws it on Maa-kun’s desk, who peers behind him discreetly and shoots a death glare towards Ritsu’s direction. Maa-kun usually doesn’t go along with Ritsu’s playfulness, and he definitely never goes along with passing notes during class, so Ritsu is shocked when Maa-kun backhand throws a note back onto his desk.

_Need to go to the infirmary? I’ll take you there._

 

Ritsu notices Maa-kun yet again discreetly looking back at him, awaiting a response. Ritsu bobs his head as if to say yes, and Maa-kun nods back, raising his head and asking the teacher to go the infirmary with him.

Naturally, the teacher lets them, and the duo are off to the infirmary (though without getting some more thumbs up from the weird-looking kid who talks funny and some snickers and questioning looks from Corgi and Natchan).

Once in the infirmary, they notice that Sagami-senpai is unsurprisingly not present. Maa-kun tells Ritsu to rest on the bed as he sits at the edge.

“So, what exactly are you sick with? You looked fine this morning. Sudden headache? You’ve been having those for a while now.”

“I’m…” He fakes a cough, though it elicits a worried look from Maa-kun which makes him snicker to himself. “I’m sick… with a bug.”

“The flu?”

“The love bug.”

Immediately, he feels a soft smack against his head, followed after by a very quiet yet very virulent scolding from Maa-kun. “Stop playing around, Ritchan! This isn’t all fun and games! If you don’t start working harder, you’ll be kicked out of knights… You’ll be kicked out of this school!”

“You’ll miss me then, right?” Ritsu says, somewhat solemnly. He tries to cement some eye contact with his childhood friend, but Maa-kun only looks away. “I miss you a lot. You’re always busy. We never hang out anymore. Yesterday was one of the first times we’ve hung out for months.”

Maa-kun looks shocked at the confession and surprisingly, he looks really apologetic and sympathetic. “Sorry. I just have a lot of responsibilities lately. I’ll make more time for you. Just… don’t do stupid stuff like this, alright?”

“But I really am sick. All I can think about is you lately. How can I even concentrate when you’re on my mind all the time?” Ritsu is half-joking, he thinks, but maybe there really is some truth in his words.

To Maa-kun, Ritsu’s words hit him like a truck and suddenly, the redhead rests his head on Ritsu’s chest, burying his face. “You stink, Ritchan. Start doing the laundry.”

Ritsu caresses his dark red locks. “Do it for me?”

“Sure, sure. I’ll do everything for you, just like a married couple.”

“Maa-kun is just like my wife~ So pretty and dainty and does everything for me.”

“That’s more like a mother with a baby,” Maa-kun states plainly, his quiet laughter reverberating against Ritsu’s chest. “You make me do everything for you, and I do it anyway. I don’t even know why I do. I think it’s because I’m sick too. I’ve been sick ever since I met you.”

“With the love bug?” Ritsu asks, amused.

“I guess so,” Maa-kun says, raising his head up. He’s completely red again. His face has been flushed a lot lately. It makes Ritsu smile.

“There’s no cure, you know,” Ritsu says, wrapping his arms around the redhead’s waist. Maa-kun is usually really fidgety with personal contact, but Ritsu seems to get away with mostly anything. “You’ll be sick forever.”

“I think I’m fine with that,” Maa-kun whispers into his hear.

Ritsu feels a sudden chill go up his spine and instinctively tightens his hold on his childhood friend, never wanting to let go. The two stay in this position for a long time before Ritsu finds himself wanting to doze off again. Before he does, he realizes that Maa-kun has already fallen asleep himself.

He smooches the redhead’s forehead, taking in the sweet smell of strawberries that Maa-kun smells and tastes like, and lets dreams overcome him, hoping that he will never be cured from this sickness for the rest of eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some nonsensical fluff. I haven't written in a while, but the Band Ensemble event really made me crave some ritsumao, so I just had to write something. Once I start getting back into gear, I'll try my hand at stuff that isn't just fluff without a plot. Maybe an omegaverse or a soulmate AU that I've been thinking about. But we'll see.


End file.
